Autism Without Borders

Supporting Children Parents and Polish Community Teachers

Funded by the Chancellery of the Senate of the Republic of Poland under the “Senate–Polonia 2025” programme.

Project co-ordinator: dr J.Gorzkowicz

Autism Without Borders: Supporting Children, Parents and Polish Community Teachers was delivered by the Polish University Abroad in London. The project aimed to strengthen knowledge, practical competences and cooperation among those who support autistic children in Polish community settings: parents, teachers, educators, specialists and organisations working with families.

The project’s central event was the international interdisciplinary symposium “Together for Children: How to Support Families and Teachers Working with Autistic Children”, held in London on 6–7 December 2025. Delivered in a hybrid format at PUNO and POSK, with online participation via Zoom, the event enabled people from different locations to take part.

The programme brought together research, professional practice, family experience and cultural perspectives. It included panels on family and school life, communication, neurodiversity, literary narratives of autism, self-advocacy and access to support for migrant families. The programme also featured an art-therapy workshop and an author meeting centred on Eliza Kącka’s book Yesterday You Were Angry in Green. The second day focused on the practical workshop “Words in the Spectrum”, designed for parents, teachers and librarians.

Around 47 people took part directly, including 17 speakers and workshop leaders, as well as participants attending in person and online. The project was delivered in cooperation with the Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw and the Polish Writers’ Association Abroad in London.

Its lasting outcomes include strengthened participant competences, educational and informational resources, podcast recordings, and a stronger network of cooperation among families, teachers, specialists and Polish community institutions. The project created a space for practical discussion about supporting autistic children at home, at school and within Polish community life.